Fig. 5

NT1721 inhibited tumor growth and reduced liver metastases in an orthotopic model of pancreatic cancer. Male NSG mice bearing orthotopically growing Panc1 luc⁺ tumors were treated 12 days after tumor injection with 30 mg/kg NT1721 (three times per week), gemcitabine (100 mg/kg, twice per week) or with the vehicle control. a Bioluminescent signals. The mice were imaged on the indicated days (n = 9). * indicates a significant difference between groups on day 18 (p = 1 × 10^− 6). Representative pictures of mice from both groups are shown on the right. b Tumor weight after 5 weeks of treatment with NT1721. c Tumor foci in the liver (n = 8). Tissue slides of livers from mice treated with either NT1721 or gemcitabine for 5 weeks were prepared and the number of tumor foci was quantified as described in the Material and methods section. Representative pictures of whole livers from control and NT1721-treated mice are shown below the graphs. d Comparison of the in vivo efficacy of NT1721 and gemcitabine. The graph shows the percentage of tumor growth in NT1721- and gemcitabine-treated mice compared to the average in control mice (data from 2 independent experiments). e Decreased metastasis formation in liver. The mice (n = 4 per group) were injected with D-luciferin after 5 weeks of treatment with NT1721 or gemcitabine and then euthanized. The livers were immediately harvested and used for bioluminescent imaging. The Mann-Whitney test was used to determine the p values indicated above the graphs